Instagram Model Bitten By A Shark While Trying To Take Pictures

A South Florida college student and Instagram user is sharing her story weeks after she was bitten by a shark while vacationing in the Bahamas.

California native Katarina Zarutskie grew up doing water sports and had seen photos online of people swimming with nurse sharks, which Exuma Online deems "typically harmless to humans".

Despite the scare, Zarutskie still loves sharks.

'These animals are considered quite docile but can and do bite on occasion, ' David Hocher, who owns Staniel Cay marina close to where the incident occurred, told NBC News.

But as she posed for a photo, a shark latched onto Zarutskie's arm.

"I leaned back, and then that shark, he came and he bit down on my arm", she told Buzzfeed. Her boyfriend's father was taking photos, and he captured the exact moment one of the sharks bit down on her wrist and pulled her underwater.

"They are wild animals, and it's an uncontrollable situation", she said.

Zarutskie has almost doubled her following on Instagram since her story came out; however, she has since made her account private, partly because she has "received a lot of rude and hateful comments from people that were saying ridiculous things", she told BBC.

"My boyfriend's family was freaking out when I went to swim with the sharks and I was like, "it's fine", she continued.

"Adrenaline was kicking in and I just knew I needed to get out of the water", she said, leery of riling up the sharks with blood in the water.

She's since had to make her Instagram private, after people accused her of blaming the sharks and causing the situation herself, but she insists that's not the case.

Zarutskie said the experience gave her a new respect for nature. The group passed an area in the ocean where several nurse sharks were swarming, and since it was promoted that swimming with these creatures was a safe and normal activity in the area, Katarina made a decision to hop in and get some photos (Note: a warning sign by the pool of sharks clearly stated that the animals "can and do bite" on occasion). She was left with only a scar on her wrist.